Moody Summer in Santa Monica + Travel Lookbook


Hello, hello! How are you guys doing? I know you wouldn't ask but I'll tell you anyways. Besides reminiscing over our recent trip to California which I wish never had to end, I am in fact doing great! Back to working out on a regular basis, quite addicted to it in fact; juggling my time between editing still because yes, there are thousands of photos and clips yet to be organised and post-processed; shooting for new Youtube content; job hunting; and watching the World Cup because believe it or not, I am now hooked on soccer. Apparently, watching a bunch of guys run around kicking ball on a field is entertaining. This, after experiencing a live basketball game in San Francisco, not that I haven't seen a live soccer match in Lyon and enjoyed it either. I am, as a matter of fact, rooting for France, ever the lover of many things French.

So while we're in the topic of updates, allow me this one other, a shameless plug if you will: there's a new LOOKBOOK video on the youtube channel and it's by far my favourite out of all the monthly lookbooks Pierre and I had done. It's essentially a compilation of some of the outfits I wore while travelling hence it's a travel lookbook. Care to watch? Head over the channel by clicking here or scroll to the end of this post. In addition, a dedicated travel video highlighting our time in Santa Monica and Venice Beach is going up soon so I suggest (read: beg) for you to subscribe and be notified once that video is up. Seriously though, that would mean the world to me! Thank you in advanced.

Now, that brings us to today's post - oh the moody Summer day we spent in Santa Monica. Thick clouds covering the blue skies throughout most of the day did not stop us from doing all that we could at the beach in one day. We arrived at the famous Santa Monica Pier close to noon, with just enough time to scan the shops and rides at Pacific Park, snap images, and generally inhale the fresh California air before heading downtown to grab lunch.

We passed through Ocean Avenue, albeit Yellowcard was referring to a street in Jacksonville, it felt really cool seeing an actual avenue called Ocean and we were there; then proceeded to this Japanese restaurant called Sugarfish. Apparently, they're social media famous for their high-end sushi takeaway box. What else do we do but ride on the bandwagon. For sushi it was, to put it forward, expensive. We paid $60 for two boxes filled with 10-12 pieces of sushi. But perhaps that's just me, having plenty of high-quality yet lower-priced sushi places to choose from here in Macau, my standards are a slightly skewed. But to be fair, the sushi was great and I don't mind saying it was worth the hype. You can watch this all on the said video coming up real soon so you guys, really gotta branch out of this space and head to my other platforms (insert appropriate emoji).









Post-lunch, we went straight back to the Pier. Pierre took his time filming while I snapped about, treading along the fine sand as I moved closer towards the water. I love how the beach is packed on a Monday. Do people even have to work in this city? But then perhaps they're mostly tourists like ourselves. Who knows. Though if they're locals, hey, I want in on this kind of lifestyle.

By mid-afternoon, we were ready to explore other areas. Of course, you could guess that we headed to Venice Beach. My ultimate favourite part of all of Los Angeles. We got into town once again and rented bikes to cruise with. Pro tip based on our experience: Don't settle for the bike rentals close to the Pier. They charge high, generally between USD15 - 20 per hour, whereas this small bike rental store downtown called Santa Monica Beach Bicycle Rentals has great quality bikes that are being rented for only USD15 for the whole day. So that's where we went.

We started off from the main road, got a little lost finding our way to the beach side bike lane, but eventually made it there. Road traffic rules can be a bit confusing for someone like me who does not drive. There are bike lanes in almost every road in LA so I wasn't sure if I should follow the traffic rules or the pedestrian rules. I survived, obviously. But that's something to look into if any of you are visiting in LA and are planning to go on a bike stroll from Santa Monica to Venice, which I highly recommend by the way.

The route to Venice was dreamy! We were cruising along the beach in a lane sandwiched between rows and rows of towering palm trees. The sky cleared for a bit and we were riding underneath the most perfect blue sky. I could have sworn I was dreaming all the way because the whole experience was everything I've only ever seen in movies. I'll tell you more but Venice Beach merits a whole other post dedicated to it so you'll just have to wait until that post comes up.








Alas, it was time to head back to Santa Monica to return our bikes before the store closed and so we rode. It got chilly as the night approached, something that I did not anticipate entirely so I resorted to buying a rasta-looking jacket from one of the souvenir stores in Venice to wrap myself around with. Don't fret, I made it work. In fact the jacket matched the entirety of my look as if I planned the outfit all along. No photos for proof but again, there'll be a travel video coming up where you'll witness said jacket in action.

Most shops had started closing for the day and one of the only dining outlets left open was Pier Burger. Given the amount of people queueing up earlier during the day and the photos I've seen of the place on Instagram, I'd say the place was pretty popular and what luck we had coming in without having to queue. We settled into one of the booths, ordered each a burger meal, and boy did it not disappoint. If I'm to be completely honest, I liked the Pier Burger better than In-n-Out.

After dinner, we decided to call it a night and went straight back to our mid-town apartment. It's an AirBnB rental but I just felt like typing it that way. We did, after all, feel so at home having settled in for two weeks. It felt like the apartment was our own.

Anyway.

I'm sure the day was more eventful that I described but I this is the best picture I could paint for you guys along with these visuals that I hope did the place justice. As always, I love sharing my travels with ya'll and I hope ya'll enjoy reading my experiences and live through me if you couldn't go on a break or vacation just yet.

In the meantime, I leave you here with a promise of more stories and visuals to come. And of course, the much promote travel video. But don't forget, there's a lookbook too so go and watch that right about now!

Enjoy the rest of the week, hunneys!


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Photos by Pierre Elma and Yours Truly


Comments

  1. love this look and all these great shots

    visit mine?
    Mrs. Aa
    www.bymrsaa.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! Will watch that video later. Love those shorts you are wearing. Such a cool place to be at Carla...Keep travelling!

    Jenny’s Bicycle-Indian Fashion Blog!!

    ReplyDelete

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